Keeping Tabs On Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

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Just because it’s come up quite a bit lately on the tDCS subReddit , I thought to re-publish this link to a talk Jamie Tyler gave just prior to the release of their device, where he explains his understanding of what’s going on, as well as their intentions. Jamie’s intro starts at 45:46. He begins his explanation of how Thync’s device works at 52:46.

An intelligent introduction to tDCS and TMS in the context of Cognitive Enhancement. Dr. Roy Hamilton (at around 19:00 in the video, the beginning is basic intro boilerplate) discusses studies which demonstrate significant positive cognitive effects in healthy individuals. I especially liked Dr. Hamilton’s take on the concerns and potential risks of non-invasive brain stimulation which he discusses towards the end of his talk.

Dr. Marom Bikson, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at The City College of The City University of New York, discussing the cellular mechanisms of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) at the Summit on Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) at the UC-Davis Center for Mind & Brain.

Dr. Vince Clark, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of New Mexico, speaking on the role of tDCS in cognitive enhancement in a talk at the Summit on Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) at the UC-Davis Center for Mind & Brain.

In this talk at the Summit on Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) at the UC-Davis Center for Mind & Brain, Dr. Roy Hamilton, Assistant Professor of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses a range of clinical applications of the transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) technique.

Dr. Michael Nitsche, a pioneer in the field of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) from the University of Goettingen in Germany, speaking about the physiological basis of tDCS at the Summit on Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) at the UC-Davis Center for Mind & Brain.

Dr. Dylan Edwards of the Burke Medical Research Institute, speaking on the role of tDCS and robotics in human motor recovery in a talk at the Summit on Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) at the UC-Davis Center for Mind & Brain.

Dr. Vincent Walsh of University College London, discussing the current evidence for and against the role of transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS) in improving cognition at the Summit on Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) at the UC-Davis Center for Mind & Brain.

Unfortunately, the quality of these videos is quite poor (always use a tripod, always get a direct audio feed of the lecture 😉 You can download an enhanced audio-only mp3 of the lecture here.

Prof. Marom Bikson of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at The City College of New York lecture on March 13, 2013 at the: Symposium at the the 10th Göttingen Meeting of the German Neuroscience Society.
“Non-invasive brain stimulation: mechanisms, effects and opportunities” introduces fundamentals of tDCS mechanisms and dose including how to achieve targeting using brain stimulation.
Continue the discussion here or on the lab http://neuralengr.com/forums/ or Soterix forums http://soterixmedical.com/community/

Just found this in iTunesU. Wow! You’ll recognize many of these names if you’re reading the tDCS literature. I’ve only watched the Michael Weisend talks (whom we met earlier on the blog) so far. I have a much better understanding of the difficulty of running a tDCS trial now. There’s a lot that can go wrong. If your protocols aren’t set up just right, your information might be useless. Here’s the web link iTunes Link from which you can download in iTunes. Downloads are quite slow.

Introduction to Neurosystems Engineering, Spring 2011 (ECE 595) Neurosystems Engineering is an emerging field at the intersection of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Engineering, and the University of New Mexico is its epicenter.

There’s just so much going on in tDCS right now that it’s hard to keep track. Coupled with the fact that I don’t have a Uni account that lets me access new paper (although I’ve had some help there from time to time). One of my objectives is to understand what’s going on well enough to present you with an accurate overview of what’s new. But lately research papers are coming so quickly that it’s been overwhelming.

But here’s my take-away from Marom’s lecture: Electrode placement does not necessarily correlate with current flow! At least not the way one might assume. Watch the videos to get a clear picture.

Another significant player popped up today. Juri Kropotov (bio) Institute of the Human Brain of the Russian Academy of Sciences. You can download his 2006 Powerpoint presentation, “Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS): a new old tool in neurotherapy” Here. You can see the Google Quick View version (and print it) here. Of special interest may be Kropotov’s use of tDCS in treating ADHD.